1 Hermann Staudinger Haus
In 1981 between March 4 and 7, I attended the “Makromolekulares Kolloquium”
organized by the Institut fu ¨r Makromolekulare Chemie in Freiburg. For many years
this traditional meeting was held in “Im Grossen Ho ¨rsaal Biologie I,” near the
Institute. This lecture room could accommodate about 500 people and it was always
full. The 1981 meeting was dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Hermann
Staudinger and during this event the name “Hermann Staudinger Haus” was
added to the name of the Institute. Hermann Francis Mark and Magda Staudinger
attended this Anniversary. I had met Hermann F. Mark during the days when I was
an undergraduate student in Iasi, Romania. However, this was the first and last time
I met Magda Staudinger. I recall that the last student of Hermann Staudinger,
Helmut Ringsdorf, mediated with Magda Staudinger to have Hermann F. Mark
attend this Anniversary. The first symposium ever organized in Hermann Staudinger Haus was, most probably, a very small bilateral Seminar on Macromolecular
Chemistry between Iasi and Freiburg, that took place immediately after the 1981
Makromolekulares Kolloquium. I also attended this seminar and presented two
lectures. The Universities of Iasi and Freiburg had a collaboration that continues
today, and Hans-Joachim Cantow, one of the followers of Staudinger, quite often
used to visit the University in Iasi, where I met him during my Ph.D. studies. He
facilitated this joint Iasi–Freiburg seminar. These were very special days in my
professional carrier since almost every important scientist in the field of macromolecular chemistry from Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland, with a few
selected guests from the USA and other countries, would attend and continue to
attend this colloquium. Very condensed invited lectures were followed by extensive
discussions, short talks, and posters, all taking place in the very charming city of
Freiburg, located near the ski resorts of the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps,
making this meeting a “must attend” scientific event. This was one of my first
trips to a Western country after many years of not being allowed to travel even to an
Eastern country.
This situation changed in 1978 when my mentor Cristofor I. Simionescu could
not attend the IUPAC Symposium on Macromolecules that took place in Tashkent,
USSR (October 17–21, 1978). Because his Invited Lecture was part of my Ph.D.
thesis and was prepared by me, he made the necessary arrangements to send me to
present this lecture. This was my first trip to any country after 7 years of being
prohibited to travel. This was about 1 year after the defense of my Ph.D. thesis and
I was scared when I looked at the audience. All the scientific big names that I knew
only from textbooks and publications were sitting in the first rows waiting to see
what was going on with this underage “Invited Speaker.” I survived the discussions
that followed my lecture. At the end of the lecture, Helmut Ringsdorf stood up from
the first row and came over to me to introduce himself. I knew the name, but I would
not have even dared to talk to him. He said that he enjoyed my lecture very much, in
which I was talking about the synthesis of the cis- (some of the first helical
174
V. Percec
In 1981 between March 4 and 7, I attended the “Makromolekulares Kolloquium”
organized by the Institut fu ¨r Makromolekulare Chemie in Freiburg. For many years
this traditional meeting was held in “Im Grossen Ho ¨rsaal Biologie I,” near the
Institute. This lecture room could accommodate about 500 people and it was always
full. The 1981 meeting was dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Hermann
Staudinger and during this event the name “Hermann Staudinger Haus” was
added to the name of the Institute. Hermann Francis Mark and Magda Staudinger
attended this Anniversary. I had met Hermann F. Mark during the days when I was
an undergraduate student in Iasi, Romania. However, this was the first and last time
I met Magda Staudinger. I recall that the last student of Hermann Staudinger,
Helmut Ringsdorf, mediated with Magda Staudinger to have Hermann F. Mark
attend this Anniversary. The first symposium ever organized in Hermann Staudinger Haus was, most probably, a very small bilateral Seminar on Macromolecular
Chemistry between Iasi and Freiburg, that took place immediately after the 1981
Makromolekulares Kolloquium. I also attended this seminar and presented two
lectures. The Universities of Iasi and Freiburg had a collaboration that continues
today, and Hans-Joachim Cantow, one of the followers of Staudinger, quite often
used to visit the University in Iasi, where I met him during my Ph.D. studies. He
facilitated this joint Iasi–Freiburg seminar. These were very special days in my
professional carrier since almost every important scientist in the field of macromolecular chemistry from Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland, with a few
selected guests from the USA and other countries, would attend and continue to
attend this colloquium. Very condensed invited lectures were followed by extensive
discussions, short talks, and posters, all taking place in the very charming city of
Freiburg, located near the ski resorts of the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps,
making this meeting a “must attend” scientific event. This was one of my first
trips to a Western country after many years of not being allowed to travel even to an
Eastern country.
This situation changed in 1978 when my mentor Cristofor I. Simionescu could
not attend the IUPAC Symposium on Macromolecules that took place in Tashkent,
USSR (October 17–21, 1978). Because his Invited Lecture was part of my Ph.D.
thesis and was prepared by me, he made the necessary arrangements to send me to
present this lecture. This was my first trip to any country after 7 years of being
prohibited to travel. This was about 1 year after the defense of my Ph.D. thesis and
I was scared when I looked at the audience. All the scientific big names that I knew
only from textbooks and publications were sitting in the first rows waiting to see
what was going on with this underage “Invited Speaker.” I survived the discussions
that followed my lecture. At the end of the lecture, Helmut Ringsdorf stood up from
the first row and came over to me to introduce himself. I knew the name, but I would
not have even dared to talk to him. He said that he enjoyed my lecture very much, in
which I was talking about the synthesis of the cis- (some of the first helical
174
V. Percec